Over the years, the monster-collecting RPG genre hasn’t interested me in the same way single-character RPGs or CRPGs have. I’ve dabbled in Pokémon/Nexomon and briefly toyed with the newer Palworld, but none stuck. Although it’s been out for four years, Monster Sanctuary not only had me wanting to collect ‘em all (for want of a better expression) but is one of my favorite games of the last few years. The combination of detailed pixel aesthetics, Metroidvania movement design, and a deliciously deep and robust combat system is a combination that drew me right in and didn’t let go. These guys are there to love, and there’s a lot to love about this game.
Monster Sanctuary presents a straightforward narrative involving a young monster keeper from an influential family. Such families have all been gifted Spectral Familiars, a spirit monster companion, as a starting point for monster keeping and collection, and to further understand their order and the world. As the hero’s journey towards self-improvement develops, they uncover a group of evil wizards, the Alchemists, and their world-spanning dark designs. Soon, the story’s main thrust becomes the journey to stop this group and their powerful leader, Marduk.
The style throughout Monster Sanctuary‘s world design should be recognizable and pleasing for anyone familiar with 90s-era SNES JRPGs. The pixel approach is detailed and animates well. A full palette of bright primary colors shows through, and there is a distinct color theme to each zone, aiding memory and route recall when zipping around the map’s fast travel points. Alongside this, the varied soundtrack deals in a similar currency of nostalgic chiptune and orchestrated synth music. Each zone has a distinct theme, with occasional bouncing synth sounds or more sustained pads for the moodier areas or emotive cutscenes. There are some gorgeous piano-led melodies, and the composers know when to dial it back and let the themes develop.
Monster Sanctuary uses something of a 2D platform design, complete with fiendishly placed jumps, barriers, and other terrain obstacles. As the protagonist explores, it becomes clear that it’s initially impossible to access many elements of the expansive maps. Some barriers are keyed to certain elements or require a weight on pressure plates to open. Some areas are too high to access or are completely dark. As well as these platform elements, bands of hostile monsters move around the zones in real time.
Collecting and utilizing various monsters in battle is the way to open up level traversal and fight off hostile creatures. The hero begins the game with a choice of personal Spectral Familiar, as well as other companions like a slime blob or storm hawk. As you explore the world, defeated monster groups can drop eggs if you complete the fights efficiently or match strengths to weaknesses. Eggs hatch and appear in your monster collection, and each monster provides an environmental effect in addition to its combat skills. Flying creatures provide double jumps and glide for a short duration, allowing access to higher platforms or longer gaps. The slime blob opens Earth-based switches, while the lava slug activates Fire-based switches. As this collection grows, it allows progression to new zones and to paths that were previously inaccessible. Soon you have monsters to go underwater, activate pressure switches, and even smash through solid rock. With dozens of monsters to collect or upgrade into stronger versions, there are many combinations and abilities to uncover.
When combat begins, the action shifts to turn-based combat, with three selected monsters facing off against the enemy group. Each monster can use a skill and you can select items and other consumables on a full turn. At the completion of all three monster actions, the turn passes to the other team. There is a wide range of skills, including a raft of elemental magic skill trees or skill trees that focus more on buffs and debuffs. Every time you hit, be it an attack or friendly buff, you generate additional potential through a combo tracker. Monsters who act last will have a greater effect.
On most occasions, the best strategy is to have weaker monsters attack first so that heavy hitters will hit even harder at the end. There’s also a mechanic that factors in the amount of mana required to use an action and how quickly this refills each turn. It’s not possible to use the most potent powers all the time, and this allows additional strategies where some monsters have a greater potential for mana generation and serve to become an engine-builder of the team. When you consider the hit combos and elemental resistance interplay, there’s a heck of a lot of strategizing to consider.
These strategies are important on normal and above difficulty. Although it’s not an overly challenging game, the boss and event encounters require you to have a well-balanced party. Playing favorites with a core team won’t work, as boss teams often differ from others in the current environment. They make excellent use of combo interplay, and could easily have your party bleeding, burning, or similar for multiple hits per turn. In the late game, it’s fair to say some grinding is needed. Certain monster builds may not cut it, and you need to spend time upleveling and equipping new starters to maximize their skills and combinations. Still, the combat is so breezy and fun that I never found this too onerous, even if some battles are longer in the end zones.
Monster Sanctuary boasts a robust equipment system along with the in-depth monster skill tree systems,. Investigating the environment and finding treasure chests or buying from merchants earns you most of your equipment. However, to achieve the best stuff, it pays to find materials while exploring and upgrade these items. There’s never enough top-tier equipment (or resources to buy/find for upgrades) to serve your entire pantheon of monsters, so your core team really does have to share the goodies and you need to think hard about who gets an upgrade. To add to these decisions, equipment is varied and specialized. Some boost damage or hit points, while others boost the mana reserves you have for cast spells each round, allowing monsters to cast their more powerful abilities more frequently. It’s all healthy, strategic gameplay and is another positive driver of progress and exploration.
Although the main story takes upwards of 20 hours to complete, Monster Sanctuary is respectful of your time, with quick combat and the ability to save anywhere. You can undertake additional side quests for unique items or to earn rare upgrade materials to enhance your equipment to the highest standard. Some side quests offer a wider understanding of the world’s lore and background, and of course, there’s always the temptation to go to earlier parts of the map to find new routes and rooms. It’s a testament to the game’s design and ethos that whenever I encountered and collected a new monster, I’d ask “What new powers do you have? Where can you help me access now?”
There are a few niggles. Managing your huge range of monsters can be a pain later on, even with the option to reduce the number with an in-game farm system. The journal/quest log does a decent job pointing out key destinations or requirements, but it’s not explicit or tightly organised. There are no waypoints or item tracking in collection quests. For some, this is perfectly fine. Others may wish there was a little more guidance, rather than spending an hour looking for a new path or selecting monster powers randomly in the hopes of activating an environment object.
Monster Sanctuary has been out a while, but if you missed out on its original release, it’s worth revisiting. The combination of light 2D platforming and turn-based combat is too good to ignore, and the vast number of monsters, skill combinations, and equipment options make it a strategist’s dream. The fact that the whole thing is presented in gorgeous spritework alongside a popping soundtrack only makes this an easier recommendation. Apart from a few minor quibbles around monster organisation and the endgame grind, there are very few weaknesses to the overall package. Do yourself a favor and make house with these cute guys for a while; they’ll give you an awful lot of enjoyment in return.
